


Cola-Wars

by Teridactyl



Series: Wasteland Management [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4, fan comic - Fandom, fanart - Fandom
Genre: Action, Angst and Feels, Blood and Gore, Dialogue Heavy, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Epic Bromance, Established Danse & Male Sole Survivor, Explicit Language, F/M, Fallout 4 Fan Comic, Fanart, Gen, Graphic Novel, M/M, Nuka-World, Physical Abuse, Post-Nuclear Option - Minutemen Ending, Romance, Same sex romance, Slow Build, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-06-20 23:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15544947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teridactyl/pseuds/Teridactyl
Summary: General Nathan Rook -- you just saved the Commonwealth, took down the Institute, buried your family, fell in love with a synth, adopted another, and another settlement needs your help! What are you going to do next?"Screw this. I'm going to Nuka-World!"** This series is a web comic made with high-resolution screenshots touched up and assembled from the game. This is very graphic (as in images and pictures, which is basically the definition of a comic!) and may take a bit to load depending on your connection. But I promise there are a whole bunch more words inside than the word count here shows!





	1. Splash Page

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey is half the fun...

### Cola-Wars, Prologue: 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Splash! 
> 
> This is an experiment for me. I've always wanted to do a comic, but the thought of drawing panel after panel (after panel, after panel, after panel) makes me grind my teeth at the notion. I like drawing, and I'm plenty good at it, but it's not my favorite art to do. I have a degree in Computer Animation I haven't been using for the last 20 years--waaaay back after I saw the first Jurassic Park and wanted to make my own dinosaurs move!-- but couldn't get a job in it, so I didn't get back into it until I discovered game mods with Fallout 4. That changed everything!
> 
> So while these are screenshots from the game, most of them are custom poses imported from 3DS-Max into the game (especially after about the first 8 pages or so when I really started to get a feel for how to do this). Wrangling these character to get them to do what you want is also a little like directing a chorus line of cats--they'll go and do their own thing if you don't stop 'em first. Nothing stops them actors from pulling out a different weapon in the middle of an action shoot (until I learned I had to just take it away...HANCOCK), and breaking continuity, thus having to start over. And then there's weeding through the hundreds and hundreds of screenshots to see which ones make the story flow, and then assembling them in Adobe Photoshop, color balancing , cleaning up and retouching photos, painting hair and fixing "wardrobe malfunctions" so you don't see any clipping, giving them eyelashes if they decided not to show up in a particular camera angle, enhancing facial expressions if necessary, etc. And then, THEN I get to work on the layout... 
> 
> What I'm saying is that a fair amount of ART goes into this get up...and all this was to AVOID the hard work of having to draw! Jesus Christ.
> 
> But I love it. I get to tap into my inner cinematographer/movie director/animator while still getting to play the game. Best of all worlds. I'm also realizing there is pretty much nothing I can't get these actors to do, given enough time and effort, so I have some really awesome things planned down the road. I try to post a handful at a time, to give myself a bit of a buffer, so I hope I can keep the updates fairly regular, about every other week or so.
> 
> I hope you enjoy... :)


	2. Intro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey begins...

### Cola-Wars: Introduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I'll post them a handful at a time as a chapter? If someone has a better idea how to do this, please let me know!


	3. The Long Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not the destination, it's the journey...
> 
> Oh wait, in this case, yeah, it IS the destination. Doesn't mean you still can't have fun with your friends on the way.

### Cola-Wars: The Long Walk

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this all began as one ridiculously ambitious experiment for ONE scene of dialogue we're not even close to yet at this point in the story. Unfortunately in these first few pages, it REALLY shows. Speech and text styles change drastically here at the beginning until I settle into something more visually appealing to read in the next bit. For a while anyway. Then I change it all again! Such are works in progress... 
> 
> Hancock is my favorite companion (followed closely by Nick). I talk to him a lot and never get tired of what he says. However, pretty much all the conversations in this comic are imaginary conversations I've had with various companions while running around the Commonwealth. I was going to put it in fanfic format, but why bother TELLING you the narrative when I can just SHOW it? Either way, it feels good to get 'em out of my head and into some kind of format.
> 
> I had this scene floating around the cranium for over a year before I finally got to put it in something. It occurred to me at some point that, if you stay in Shroud's character the whole time for all available dialogue options, it's totally plausible that Hancock never finds out the true identity of the Silver Shroud! Nice to finally let him in on your little secret.


	4. Gunner's A'Blazin'

### Cola-Wars: Gunner's A'Blazin'

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a decent buffer ahead of me, so I don't want to post too much at a time. Hopefully I can keep up this pace before bottoming out. 
> 
> I didn't put a lot of tags in the title yet because this project is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint and I'm not sure what fits yet, but there IS an established relationship in this story between Sole Survivor and Danse (hinted at on the top page). It may take a bit before they have any screen time together because I want to build the story properly, but I'm just as eager to get there as you!


	5. Gunner's A'Blazin' - 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hancock shows off some fancy fightin'.

### Cola-Wars: Gunner's A'Blazin' 2

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "'PCLOADLETTER'? What the fuck does THAT mean?" -- Office Space
> 
> I waffled quite a while on making the Assaultron BSOD. Was it too corny? Too anachronistic? Too meta? And then I put that line in there and said, "Yes...yes it is," and kept it anyway. 
> 
> I once saw Hancock curb-stomp a raider. The man is a freaking savage in a fight. If you don't travel with him, you're wrong. In fact, he took out this Assaultron by himself right in front of me while my SS just stood there, and I flew around and snapped as many screenshots of it as I could. I also think he's totally full of shit with all his drug-talk. I've never seen him take a single puff on a jet inhaler (even when there's an animation marker to do so), or anything beyond smoke the occasional cigarette (hell, DANSE, Mister Fitness himself, smokes in my game more than Hancock does!). Hancock is crystal clear upstairs, he just doesn't want you to THINK he is. What's up with that? He's definitely got an agenda there. I'm on to you, you crazy, sexy ghoul.


	6. A Soldier's Creed

### Cola-Wars: A Soldier's Creed

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This section is a bit hard to break up, so I'm just posting all of the Soldier's Creed. This is the U.S. Army's current creed quoted here, not quite in entirety, but close. Not sure they had an official creed in the 50's, but I went with the contemporary one instead of the retired version because this one works better as a list of bullet points for the panels, and frankly, it just sounds better. The old one is kind of rambly. 
> 
> I'm not a soldier, and while of course I know people who have served, they aren't readily available for comment at a moment's notice. I will make mistakes with military culture/terms/lore/history/etc., I'm sure. Go easy on me... I try my best to research what I can before I just make shit up, and I have great respect for those who have served even though I'm about as bleeding-heart as you can possibly get. I do get a few creative liberties since this is an alternate retro-sci-fi universe with seriously archaic technology. But, if you see an opportunity to correct me or point me in the direction of a helpful resource, I'd sincerely appreciate it. :)


	7. Curveball

### Cola-Wars: Curveball

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the mood whiplash.
> 
> Wait, no I'm not. XD


	8. Sideslip

### Cola-Wars: Sideslip

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the hell is in a stimpak, anyway? The animation actually does show them stabbing it into their chest. Eeek. I don't have any hangups about needles, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to go that far. It's gotta be some kind of adrenaline shot that just keeps you going, maybe with a little Med-X mixed in to dull the ouchiness? I understand if you play on survival mode, stimpaks have their own set of side-effects. Medicine in this universe is weird. But, physiology is still the same! I think CPR needs to make a comeback in Falloutverse (it could be a legitimately educational game mechanic!).
> 
> This is it for this year. My updates are pretty infrequent anyway, so thanks for hanging in there! I know a lot of people have moved on to Fallout 76, and while it looks interesting, there doesn't seem to be enough of a story or character development/role-play element to it to really twig my interest, so I'm still loyal to Fallout 4 and this story, in particular. I should be back with new chapters in January. Poor Hancock isn't quite done freaking out. Feelings suck. 
> 
> Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone! See ya soon.


	9. From the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings. Nothing more than feelings.

### Cola-Wars: From the Heart

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watching the game actors maneuver their way over stairs is a little like watching a baby giraffe try to moonwalk. It's pretty much a disaster. Due to the different step types in the game--fat ones, high ones, short ones, long ones--it's not a huge surprise the game developers didn't spend a lot of time on the animation, especially for a terrain type you spend so little time on. But posing on them, sitting on them, lounging on them...Jesus. This was harder to stage than the last action sequence. Still. I'm happy with it and I think it looks pretty natural.
> 
> Oh, poor Nathan. The survivor guilt is _strong_ with this one. I couldn't help project all those thoughts on him while I was playing the game, so these are all the things that went through my head days before and days after the attack on the Institute. I guess this comic is Fallout therapy for me. Let's me work out issues I had with the story, the characters, hell, even some recent events in my _own_ life, to a degree. And some of the mechanics. "Your thoughts? Your thoughts? Your thoughts? Your thoughts?" Ugh...I'm glad they finally changed that prompt up a little in the DLCs, but I wish they'd had the foresight to do it for the vanilla game, too. Sheesh.
> 
> And poor Hancock! That would also be me. I handle a high-stress situation like a cold steel professional ice cube, but afterward, when all the adrenaline is trying to work its way outta me and my brain has had a second to reflect on the situation, that's when I completely melt down. Still, he's got a point. You ever wonder if your companion is behind you and thinking, "What the HELL are they doing, NOW?" as you charge into a dozen Gunners waving nothing but a stick. Well, here's Hancock's thoughts on that. 
> 
> Also, what-what-whaaaaat? He's going straight(ish)? Found a purpose in life? On his final tour before retiring from the battlefield? AND he has some kind of secret agenda we don't know yet? Well, good for hi--
> 
> WAITAMINUTE. That's like a classic 4-star restaurant recipe trope disaster for a supporting character, ain't it? Uh oh. The only thing worse would be announcing his wife is pregnant, but well, that's not exactly possible with him. But don't worry too much. I couldn't kill off my favorite supporting character. 
> 
> ...there are plenty of terrible things I can do to him that are far worse than death! Mwahaha!


End file.
